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<BillSummaries>
<item congress="113" measure-type="hr" measure-number="2549" measure-id="id113hr2549" originChamber="HOUSE" orig-publish-date="2013-06-27" update-date="2013-09-06">
<title>BEST Act</title>
<summary summary-id="id113hr2549v00" currentChamber="HOUSE" update-date="2013-09-06">
<action-date>2013-06-27</action-date>
<action-desc>Introduced in House</action-desc>
<summary-text><![CDATA[<p>Biliteracy Education Seal and Teaching Act or the BEST Act - Directs the Secretary of Education to award renewable two-year grants to states to establish or improve a Seal of Biliteracy program to recognize student proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing in both English and a second language.</p> <p>Requires students who wish to participate in such a program to submit an application to their state that includes assurances that they: (1) will receive a secondary school diploma or its equivalent in the year they apply; and (2) have met the state's criteria for demonstrating proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing in both English and a second language.</p> <p>Requires states to provide participating students who demonstrate that proficiency: (1) a permanent seal or other marker on their secondary school diploma or its equivalent, and (2) documentation of that proficiency on their official academic transcript.</p> <p>Allows students who gain proficiency in a second language outside of school to participate in such programs.</p> <p>Prohibits states from charging students an application fee.</p>]]></summary-text>
</summary>
</item>
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<dc:language>EN</dc:language>
<dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
<dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
<dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
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